How Plastics And Nanotechnology Are Changing The Microchip Industry And The World We Live In

January 30, 2007 Blog No Comments

By Roger Bell, special to TheContentWrangler.com. In an article I wrote for the July 2006 edition of The Edge, I used plastics as a metaphor to describe the dawning age of nanotechnology and how applied uses of the new science will sneak into our daily lives with little or no fanfare, as did plastic products. But little did I know when I wrote those words that plastics were still on the march too, particularly in the microchip industry. However, let me add that nanotechnology is behind this important development. So, Read the full article…

Ready, AIIM, Fire: Adobe to Release PDF for Industry Standardization

January 29, 2007 Blog No Comments

Adobe Systems announced January 29, 2007 that it “it intends to release the full Portable Document Format (PDF) 1.7 specification to AIIM, the Enterprise Content Management Association, for the purpose of publication by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).” “As the administrator for several specialized ISO standard subsets of PDF, AIIM is pleased to receive this proposal from Adobe,” said John Mancini, President, AIIM. “Over the last several years we have seen and in many cases helped facilitate a range of ongoing market and customer focused efforts around PDF. These Read the full article…

Tool Tip: RestoreWindows Plug-in for Adobe FrameMaker

January 28, 2007 Blog No Comments

Thanks to Gordon McLean of Graham Technology (Scotland) for turning us on to RestoreWindows ($12 US), a handy plug-in for Adobe FrameMaker that, according to the manufacturer (Leximation), “restores the window location, zoom factor, and view settings of opened documents along with the show/hide state of frequently used tool windows.” Gordon says this is a useful and time-saving tool that is “especially handy for those working with Structured FrameMaker”. No more “open document, open tool 1, open tool 2, open tool 3 everytime you start FrameMaker. Sounds like a time Read the full article…

Forrester Wave vs. Component Content Management

January 27, 2007 Blog No Comments

In the January issue of Content Management Professionals newsletter, Ann Rockley shares her thoughts on the recent Forrester Wave Report: Content Centric Applications, Q1 2006 and discusses her views on a category of software tools she calls Component Content Management Systems (CCMS). What is CMMS, you ask? According to the article, “Component Content Management systems manage content at a granular level (component) of content rather than at the document level. Each component represents a single topic, concept or asset (e.g., image, table). Components are assembled into multiple content assemblies (content Read the full article…

Microsoft Bumble: Manipulating Wikipedia Content Or Just Correcting Mistakes?

January 24, 2007 Blog No Comments

Microsoft is in the news again today. No, it’s not the news about Microsoft mistakenly accusing 2.6 million people of using pirated copies of their software. This time, according to the Associated Press: “Microsoft Corp. has landed in the Wikipedia doghouse after it offered to pay a blogger to change technical articles on the community-produced Web encyclopedia site. While Wikipedia is known as the encyclopedia that anyone can tweak, founder Jimmy Wales and his cadre of volunteer editors, writers and moderators have blocked public-relations firms, campaign workers and anyone else Read the full article…

In Search Of Simple Content Management: CMS Watch Warns “It Won’t Be Easy”

January 24, 2007 Blog No Comments

“Despite all the industry mergers, new product versions, and ceaseless march of acronyms, the (content management) industry does not in fact move very fast,” said Tony Byrne, CMS Watch founder. “Instead, 2007 will be characterized by the elusive quest for ‘simple,’ as buyers seek out simpler solutions to complex business problems.” The CMS Watch analyst team predicts that “simple” won’t be easy: Google de-googles its appliance—The Google Appliance will continue to disrupt the enterprise search market, but its ever-expanding feature set will inevitably make the appliance harder to administer Rediscovery Read the full article…

Aberdeen Says Top Performers Author Structured Documentation; Hit Product Launch Dates Every Time

January 19, 2007 Blog No Comments

According to analysts at Aberdeen Group in a recent report entitled Next-Generation Product Documentation: Getting Past the “Throw It over the Wall” Approach, best-in-class companies author structured documentation, hit their product launch dates every time, and use design-based illustration, content management, 3D visualization, and translation memory solutions to meet time, cost targets. Findings from Aberdeen’s report show, according to their press release, that structured document, content management, technical illustration, 3D visualization, and translation memory technologies are “paying off” big time for some tech docs departments. For example, among companies surveyed, Read the full article…

BumpTop: A New Desktop Computing Paradigm

January 19, 2007 Blog No Comments

Big changes are impacting the computing technology industry. Many of these changes are influenced by the work of experience engineers attempting to find new-and-improved ways for users to interact with content. One such example comes from the folks at BumpTop, whose YouTube video, “Keepin’ It Real: Pushing The Desktop Metaphor With Physics, Piles, and the Pen,” (included below) demonstrates one way desktops of the future may be built. Of course, every good idea inspires a Parody.

Acrobat User Newsletter: An Online Resource For PDF Users

January 17, 2007 Blog No Comments

If your job involves the creation or consumption of files of Portable Document Format (PDF) type, then you might find the Adobe Acrobat User Community’s free monthly newsletter a useful addition to your electronic library. In the January 2007 issue you’ll find articles covering Acrobat 8, using form-field recognition, preflight tools, using Mac.com iDisk as a Shared Review comment repository, and creating user-friendly technical documents.

RoboHelp 6 Arrives; Puts Death Rumors To Rest

January 16, 2007 Blog 4 Comments

Well, the “RoboHelp is Dead” crowd will be disappointed to learn that their predictions were wrong. Alas, Adobe Systems today announced the availability of RoboHelp 6, “a complete, flexible and user-friendly system to create, manage and publish software help systems, knowledge bases and documentation for desktop and Web-based applications.” “Adobe RoboHelp 6 is a major release and a key milestone in the product’s 15-year history,” said Don Walker, senior director of product marketing and business development at Adobe. “RoboHelp 6 strongly reinforces Adobe’s commitment to the technical communications market, giving Read the full article…

Creating DITA Content in Microsoft Word (Well, Almost): Interview With Michael Boses

January 15, 2007 Blog No Comments

In this exclusive interview with TheContentWrangler.com, Michael Boses, Chief Technology Officer for Invision Research Corporation, introduces his firm’s new suite of DITA authoring and productivity tools designed to help technical communicators to author DITA content naturally in Microsoft Word without struggling with an XML editing environment. TCW: Michael, thanks for agreeing to chat with us today. For our readers who don’t know who you are, please tell us a little about yourself, your past experience, and your role at In.vision Research Corporation. MB: Thank you, Scott. Starting in 1991, I Read the full article…

XML Content Management Systems: Are They Are Right For Technical Publications?

January 12, 2007 Blog No Comments

Ever wonder why you can’t use a code management system to manage tech pubs content? Need to understand why a relational database can’t keep pace with an XML content management system? Want to know the pros and cons of open source systems? And, what about that new Microsoft SharePoint release? Can’t we just use that, after all, we already own it? If these questions seem frighteningly familiar, you are not alone. Chip Gettinger uncovers the answers to these and many other pressing tech pubs content management questions in his interview Read the full article…

CM Pros Spring Summit 2007 San Francisco: Call For Participation

January 11, 2007 Blog No Comments

CM Pros has issued a Call for Participation for their bi-annual Summit, April 13, 2007, at The Palace Hotel in historic San Francisco. The theme of the event is “Managing Content Management Implementation Projects”. Here’s a snippet from the announcement: “The Spring CM Pros Summit focuses on how to effectively manage content management projects. Because many factors impact content management systems—including significant financial costs, stakeholders from all levels of an organization, new business processes as well as complex tools and technologies—the stakes and risks are high. Effective project management increases Read the full article…

Free XML Editor Now Supports DITA, RSS, TEI P4

January 9, 2007 Blog No Comments

For those with a penchant for free software tools, you might want to check out XML Copy Editor. Available for download from SourceForge, XML Copy Editor claims to support RSS, DITA and TEI P4.